Feast of the Visitation

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she 

entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,

 the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed

 with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 

And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as 

I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she 

who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."

And Mary said,

"My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.

His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,

according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home. Now the time 

came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. Luke 1:39-57

I have three daughters and had three sisters. We count on each other and try to be support and strength

 to each  other when life is challenging. When our sister Pegi passed at 42, it was if a part of my

being had been severed. We were linked by more than blood, a sisterly understanding of the real,

lived challenges of being women in this world. Although we live in separate places, my sisters and

daughters are always close to my heart. They each carry a part of our mother, our history, our story.

Mary runs to Elizabeth after she is challenged by the angel. Shocked and excited, she seeks out her

closest female relative, a sister, though so much older, who understood what she was going through.

Elizabeth was miraculously pregnant as was Mary. They could laugh and cry together, carrying to

each other their parts of their mothers and grandmothers, their history, and their story. Their stories

are also our stories, of God miraculous love changing the world through unknown and unlikely

women.

Today, I ask God to use me, despite all the challenges I have to carry the miraculous love of God and 

encourage all those unlikely and unknown women and men to share the story they know. May we 

share our stories so that the world might know the Creator's love.